The town of Auron was a winter wasteland on the night before Christmas Eve. All the children was in the comfort of their beds, except for one little girl named Anna, who was throwing snowballs at a stop sign. She knew she should be asleep so late at night, but she was determined to hit the stop sign with all the snow balls without missing her target.

She was preparing for war. Not just any war, but a war many of the children in the neighborhood called “the snow war”.

Anna’s next door neighbors, the Flitchets, had won the battle last year, and they kept bragging about it constantly to the other children in town. Anna could’ve won that battle. She made the mistake of being hesitant last year. And she wasn’t going to make that mistake ever again. After she finished hitting her target, Anna then hurried back into her house and went straight to bed; she dreamed of winning the snow wars.

The reason why the snow wars was so important to her is because the winner won the glory and respect, and the loser’s allowances.

Anna was the only female in their neighborhood and the boys looked down at her because of it. She was going to show all the boys she was more than a girl; she was a conqueror.

The sun was blocked by a thick fog the next day; it was Christmas Eve. Anna was still asleep when she heard her mother say, “Anna, breakfast is ready. It’s time to get up.”

Anna groaned until she got up. She wanted to sleep in, until she remembered that today was the snow wars. Anna then hopped out of bed and headed downstairs into the kitchen. Eating everything off her plate in a matter of minutes, Anna got up from her seat.

“That was fast,” said Anna’s mother. “Are you in a hurry?”

“Yes, mom today is the snow wars.”

“Snow wars?” Anna’s mother asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Yes, it’s a thing me and the guys made. Every winter we fight, and the losers have to give their allowances to the winner.”

“Alright, have fun. But remember what I told you.”

“Don’t go into the woods.” said Anna as she walked away from the table.

Anna sprinted back upstairs and put on warm clothes for snow wars.

After she got ready, Anna went outside and is shocked to find the snow fort she made was destroyed. Just then, two snowballs whizzed passed her head; the boys set a trap for Anna. Without hesitation, Anna ran away and kept her distance as the barrage of snowballs flew passed her. She quickly made a snowball and threw it at one of her opponents and it hit one of boys on their forehead.

Anna was a monster. No matter what the boys did to hit her, they missed. Anna had practiced everyday when the season first began. She already envisioned her victory. Just then, a snowball hit Anna on her right shoulder.

“Great, two lives left.” Anna mumbled to herself

In snow wars, each player is given three lives. And if you get hit three times, you were out. Anna quickly ran into the fog to hide. She found a giant rock hidden behind a few trees and hid behind it.

“She’s over here!” Anna heard on of the boys yell.

Anna peeked her head out at the edge of the rock. The boys appeared out of the mist.

“Where is she?” asked one of the boys.

“I don’t know,” said the youngest Fletcher boy. “Maybe she’s in the woods.”

“Alright, let’s split up. I’m not losing snow wars to a girl.”

Anna couldn’t believe it. The boys had stopped fighting each other and joined forces to defeat her. But it didn’t phase her in anyway. She thought boys were stupid. Even though the snow wars had turned into a gender war, she knew how to outsmart them all.

Anna quickly ran into the woods and one by one, Anna took majority of the boys down.

There were three more boys in the battle and Anna was hit only once. Her next victims were the Fletcher brothers and their ally, Josh. Anna sneaked behind Josh and hit him in the back.

“No fair.” Said Josh.

“It’s all fair in snow wars.” Anna smiled as she hit josh in the face with the snowball; Josh was out.

Just as Anna walked away from Josh, she is hit in the back with a snowball. The whole thing was a trap.

Anna quickly ran and headed deeper into the woods. While Anna ran, she stumbled into a weird area where the trees were stumps and an army of snowmen resided. Anna was baffled by the sight of it.

Where did these snowmen come from? Anna thought.

A snowball then flew passed her head. Anna turned around and saw the fletcher brothers in the distance. She then hid behind one of the snowmen and started making a snowball.

“Where are you Anna?” said Eric, the oldest fletcher boy.

Eric pushed one of the snowmen to the ground and continued his search. As the fletcher brothers neared Anna, she threw her snowball at Eric and made a run for it. The brothers chased after her and threw snowballs back. Eric pushed down another snowman and a few more snowmen toppled over like standing dominoes and one of the snowmen collapsed on Anna.

“I got her!” said Sam, the youngest fletcher boy.

“Good job, Sam,” said Eric. “Hold her down for me.”

Sam did what he was told. Anna tried to pick herself up and Sam put his left foot on her chest, with a snowball raised in the air.

As Sam was about to drop the snowball on Anna’s head, everything went silent by a loud crunching noise; red liquid dropped on Anna’s face. Anna couldn’t believe her eyes. One of the snowmen bit Sam’s arm off. Sam didn’t realize his arm was gone until he looked where it used to be.

The living snowman let out a loud, creepy howl and all the standing snowmen turned their heads in their direction. Sam screamed at the top of his lungs and fell to his knees. Anna quickly got up, grabbed Sam, and headed into the woods.

“Don’t worry, Sam,” Anna took off her scarf and tightly wrapped it around Sam’s arm. “Everything will be alright.”

“Eric!” Sam shrieked, “Where ar-“ Anna covered Sam’s mouth with her hands.

“Idiot, do you want those snowmen to eat the rest of you?”

“What about Eric?” Sam began to cry, “What if they got him.”

“They Didn’t. This is Eric we’re talking about. He’s definitely fine. Now let’s get out of these woods.”

Anna was unsure if Eric got away safely. She said all she could to shut Sam up. The snow wars were over. There were no winners; the game had turned into a fight for survival.

Anna and Sam continued to journey through the woods, hoping they find their way home. When they got to their neighborhood, the other kids that lost the snow wars surrounded them.

“Oh, man. What happened?” asked one of the boys.

“We’ll explain later,” said Anna. “Right now we have to get Sam some help before he bleeds to death.”

Anna walked Sam to his house and knocked on the door. Sam’s mother opened the door and realized his arm was gone.

“Oh my god, what happened?”

“A snowman attacked me, mom.” Sam started to cry again.

“A snowman?”

“Yes, a snowman,” said Anna. “There’s a ton of them in the woods.”

“Where’s Eric?” asked Mrs. Fletcher, “Why isn’t he here?”

“The snowmen got him.” Sam cried.

“Enough,” said Mrs. Fletcher, “I don’t know about this snowmen thing, but I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Mrs. Fletcher grabbed her car keys and pulled Sam by his good arm to the car. They enter the car and drove off in a hurry.

What was Anna going to do? How could she tell everyone that there are man- eating snowmen in the woods? She didn’t have the slightest idea of how she was going to make everyone believe her, but she had to think fast.

Anna walked to the confused group of boys, who had their eyes on the Fletcher’s car.

“So what happened?” asked one of the boys.

“There’s these snowmen in the woods,” said Anna. “They attacked us and bit Sam’s arm off. Now Eric is somewhere in the woods with them. Who knows, he could be dead.”

“You’re joking, right?” said one of the boys, “There’s no such thing as man- eating snowmen.”

Just then, the children heard a loud cry in the woods.

“That sounded like Eric.” said one of the boys.

“I told you he needs help.” said Anna.

“Well, what the hell can we do?”

“I’ll tell you what we should do,” said Anna, “We should-“

Anna is then interrupted by her mother.

“Anna, get over here now!”

She knew she was in trouble. Her mother specifically told her not to go in the woods. But did she listen? Of course not.

Anna walked to her mother with her head down.

“Yes, mom?”

“I just got a call from Mrs. Fletcher. Apparently Sam had his arm bitten off while playing in the woods. Did you go into the woods?” Anna nodded.

“Well then, starting now, you’re grounded until I say so. Now go to your room.”

“But mom, please let me explain.”

“Now Anna!”

“Yes, mom.”

Anna went to her room and plopped onto her bed. This isn’t fair, Anna thought. Her mother didn’t give her a chance to explain her side of the story.

Anna sat in her room for two hours. The sun left for the night, and Anna was still upset by the situation. She needed to use the bathroom, so she sneaked out of her room and headed for the restroom. Anna then could hear her mother talking on the phone; she listened carefully.

“Yes, you heard me right…They’re back. They bit off one of the children’s arm off. Yes, they’re in the woods. What should we do? You’re coming? Great, when will you be here? In a few hours? Good, see you then…Bye.”

Anna couldn’t believe it. Her mother knew there was something in the woods the whole time. Anna went to the restroom, then returned to her bedroom in a hurry. She then put on her warm clothes again and snuck out her window.

Anna knew Eric was in trouble. And sitting in her room wasn’t doing anything. She heard that people were coming to get rid of the snowmen, but Eric would probably be dead before they could get there.

As Anna made the decision to go into the woods, she knew she needed help. Anna knocked on Josh’s door and asked to speak to him.

“What are you doing here, Anna?” asked Josh, “I thought you were grounded.”

“I am grounded, but that doesn’t matter. I need you to round up the guys.”

“What for?”

“I’m going to save Eric from the snowmen and I need help.”

Josh stepped out of his house and closed the front door.

“Are you crazy, or are you asking for a death wish?”

“Please, Josh, I need help. I can’t do this on my own.”

“What makes you think that anyone is going to help you? It’s a suicide mission.”

“Look, I know it is. But Eric would do the same thing for us if we were in trouble.”

Josh sighed deeply and looked at something in the distance.

“Alright, I’ll call the guys… I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Thank you,” Anna hugged Josh. “Meet me near the woods.”

Anna waited near the woods, and minutes later, Josh and another boy arrived.

“Where’s everyone?” asked Anna.

“This is everyone,” said Josh. “Like I said, this is a suicide mission and no one wants to get hurt, or worse. Anyways, this is Adam.”

“Nice to meet you Adam… So are you guys ready to make a game plan?”

“Yeah, but first we need to have weapons,” said Josh. “I may be risking my life, but I’m not making it easy for the snowmen to get me.”

“Right,” said Anna. “So what do you have?”

“I got my dad’s gun and some ammo.” said Josh. “What about you, Anna?”

“I got a stick. I had to sneak out of my room; I didn’t have any time to grab a real weapon. What about you, Adam?”

Adam took off his backpack and opened it. Inside were three liquor bottles, a giant knife, and ripped pieces of cloth.

“What’s the liquor bottles for?” asked Anna.

“You’ll see later on.” Adam smiled.

“Aright, now we got weapons down, time for a plan.”

The trio then decided to plan out their mission. I was a simple plan. Adam’s job was to distract the snowmen and Josh’s job was to protect Anna while she broke Eric free.

After they understood their jobs, they then ran into the woods and disappeared in the trees. When they neared to the area of the snowmen, they discover that there were snowmen guarding the perimeter.

“Alright, Adam, it’s your time to shine.” Josh pat Adam on his shoulder. Adam then grabbed one of the liquor bottles, a ripped piece of cloth, and a lighter from his bag and gave them to Josh.

“Why are you giving these to me?” asked Josh.

“It’s a Molotov.” Adam smiled. “You’ll know when to use it.”

Adam then moved away from the group and screamed at the top of his lungs. The snowmen guards heard his screams and followed him. Anna and Josh advanced into the lair. They saw hundreds of snowmen surrounding Eric; he was trapped in a cage made of ice.

“Well, what do we do now?” asked Josh.

Anna had an idea. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think we should start a fire.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“You’ll see.” Anna grabbed the bottle, ripped cloth and lighter from josh and made the Molotov. She then lit the ripped cloth and threw it towards the snowmen. The snowmen screeched at the sight of the fire. The snowmen then scattered and ran into the woods. Anna and Josh hurried to Eric and did everything they could to break the ice cage. They were able to finally break Eric free. The three of them ran into the burning woods, trying their best to get home.

“Man, you don’t know how glad I am to see you guys.” said Eric.

Seconds later, the three of them were surrounded by four snowmen; they were trapped.

“What do we do now, Anna?” asked Josh.

“I don’t know,” Anna spoke in panic, “just let me think.”

Anna couldn’t think of anything. They were toast. The snowmen started to chuckled and neared closer to them. Anna closed her eyes tightly; she didn’t want to face her own death.

Just when all hope was lost, Anna heard the snowmen scream in agony. Anna opened her eyes and discovered five men wearing suits and flamethrowers. One of the snowmen lunged at one of the men in suits and its face melted. The attacking snowmen retreated and disappeared into the woods.

“Are you kids alright?” asked one of the men in suits.

“Yes,” said Anna

“Come on, I’ll get you out of here.” said the suited man.

The man guided the children out of the woods and brought them to their neighborhood.

Anna’s mother darted to her; she knew she was in trouble again. Surprisingly, Anna’s mother grabbed her and hugged her tightly.

“Thank god you’re ok.”

Eric’s mother ran to him and did the same thing.

“Where were you, Eric?” asked Mrs. Fletcher. “You had me worried.

“Snowmen, mom.” Eric stopped hugging his mother, “They attacked Sam earlier and captured me.”

Mrs. Fletcher couldn’t believe it. Sam was telling the truth. Just then, an older man wearing a suit walked to them.

“Well, I’m glad the children are out of the woods and safe. Now my men can scavenge the woods for the rest of the snowmen.”

“Who are you?” asked Anna.

“I’m Roland Ferland, and I’m the one who’s bringing you to safety.

-to be continued-